Sociological Theories of Suicide Types
Durkheim's theory of suicide, and revisions suggested by later theorists, focused
predominantly on the involvement of the individual with society. Sociological approaches have stressed that different types of suicide are produced by different social
circumstances. Durkheim posited three primary types: egoistic, altruistic, and anomic. This typology, which differentiates between causes of suicide produced by circumstances of integration and regulation within society and its major institutions, remains prominent today.
Egoistic suicide occurs when individuals lack adequate integration into or involvement with society. Persons not involved in society and its institutions are not constricted by its rules, including those that regulateÑand often prohibitÑ suicide. Instead they are regulated only by their own rules of conduct and act in terms of their own private interests. By contrast, altruistic suicide results from excessive integration into society and insufficient individuation. The behavior of the individual is almost completely determined by the social group. Such an individual may commit suicide as a sacrifice to benefit the collective good.
The third major type was called anomic suicide. Anomie, or a sense of alienation, is produced by a lack of societal regulation on an individual and therefore a lack of normative (socially conforming) behavior. Under usual circumstances, societal regulation provides a sense of equilibrium and limits. When changesÑusually of an abrupt natureÑoccur in the situation of an individual or culture, equilibrium is disrupted and a state of deregulation exists. Under such circumstances the anomic individual is left without clear norms to guide behavior. Suicide is one possible result.
Psychological and Biological Explanations
Early psychological theories, and especially those of Sigmund Freud, contended that individual, internal psychological forces, rather than social forces, could lead to depression and suicide. For Freud an essential aspect of understanding suicide was to view it as part of an instinctual human tendency toward aggression and destruction. He regarded suicide as one manifestation of his theorized "death instinct," called thanatos, as opposed to the powerful "life instinct," eros. In suicides the death instinct somehow manages to overcome the life instinct. Freud's second, considerably more complex explanation is based on the notion that an individual who commits suicide feels aggression and anger over the loss of love objects but turns these feelings inward on himself or herself.
Behavioral theories in psychology assume that suicide, like all other behavior, is learnedÑand can be unlearnedÑaccording to well-established principles of learning. Thus suicide can result from habits and learned associations and the reinforcement of such behaviorsÑor the lack of reinforcement of other, more appropriate and adaptive behaviors. It may also occur through imitation of others.
In recent decades, psychological theories of suicideÑmany of which continue to highlight the role of depressive disordersÑ have illuminated the cognitive aspects that produce suicidal thoughts and actions. For example, American psychologist Edwin Shneidman has theorized that suicidal persons share a number of attributes. Prominent among these are thwarted or blocked psychological needs, and the perception that circumstances and problems are unsolvable and that nothing done will be helpful. That is, such persons experience a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. As a result of constriction in their cognitive abilities, suicidal individuals also typically fail to see alternative ways to cope with their circumstances. They are ambivalent about suicide, however, wanting to die but at the same time wanting to live. Finally, and most importantly, Shneidman theorizes that there exists in any suicide an unbearable psychological pain from which the person desires to escap. He refers to this intolerable pain as "psychache" and contends that it is the cause of individual suicide acts. Suicide is prevented when this pain, or the factors that lead to it, is reduced to tolerable levels.
Adding to these explanations of suicide, more recent research findings suggest that biological factors possibly play contributing roles, particularly in the production of depression and subsequent suicide. These findings have implicated biochemical substances that may be involved in producing depression and ultimately suicide. Much research remains to be conducted in order to clarify the role of biology in suicide.
SUICIDE PREVENTION
Even in the context of these controversies it is generally accepted that most suicides are not due to terminal conditions. Instead they typically occur among individuals who have demonstrable mental health problems, most often depression. These individuals are experiencing tremendous psychological pain that they cannot alleviate and with which they feel unable to cope. The behaviors, verbal statements, and circumstances of such individuals can help others recognize that they are suicidal. Mental health services are generally available to intervene and prevent the vast majority of them from trying to end their psychological pain by suicide.
In addition to individual, group, and family therapy techniques, suicide prevention has been effected through crisis intervention and suicide prevention centers. These centers, developed predominantly in the 1960s and 1970s, exist throughout the United States and Canada, and elsewhere in the world. They intervene in cases involving active depressive or suicidal behavior or statements of intent. Often these interventions are through phone contacts and some combination of referrals to community mental health services and therapists, emergency medical interventions, and inpatient and outpatient therapy services.